


Whatever It Takes

by alanna_the_lionheart



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 3x20, Angst, Break Up, Drabble, F/M, Love, One Shot, Romance, Speculation, Spoilers, olicity - Freeform, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 05:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3797875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alanna_the_lionheart/pseuds/alanna_the_lionheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Felicity packs for the trip to Nanda Parbat, she finally begins to accept that maybe, just maybe, she’s in love with Oliver Queen. Contains Ray Palmer, but it’s all good, trust me. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whatever It Takes

Felicity showers as quickly as she can. The private jet to Nanda Parbat, paid for by Malcolm Merlyn, leaves in half an hour, and Felicity doesn’t plan on letting Oliver get on it without her.

 

She throws her hair, still wet, into her usual ponytail and opens her dresser, digging through it for comfortable clothes.

 

“This is all Malcolm Merlyn’s fault,” she mutters to herself as she throws on a light shirt. “ _All of it._ If he hadn’t gotten Thea mixed up in his miserable life then none of this would have happened.”

 

She slams one drawer and opens another, rooting around for a pair of jeans.

 

“Oliver can’t do this,” she says out loud to her empty bedroom. “He _can’t_.”

Felicity closes her dresser and leans on it, attempting to calm her racing heart. She takes a series of slow, deep breaths, willing herself not to panic. When she finally feels calmer, she pulls a duffel bag out of her closet and throws it on the bed.

 

“He _can’t_ ,” she repeats as she starts to pack.

 

_And yet…._

_It’s Thea._

 

* * *

 

“What?” Ray asks, glancing up from his computer.

 

“It’s Thea,” Felicity repeats, her body shaking slightly as she stands in the doorway to his office.

 

“Oliver’s sister?” Ray asks, and she can only nod.

 

“She’s…she’s _dead_ ,” Felicity whispers, voice breaking. “She’s dead, and Oliver’s about to do something stupid, and I can’t let him go alone.” She says the words quickly, needing to get them out as soon as possible, wishing like crazy that she didn’t have to say them at all.

 

“Go where?” he asks, standing and walking slowly toward her.

 

“It’s…it’s complicated,” Felicity answers hesitantly, and she finds that she can’t look Ray in the eyes anymore, because she knows what she needs to do and she’s terrified.

 

“Complicated,” Ray responds with a smirk. “Meaning it has something to do with the Arrow. Got it.”

 

“Ray-”

 

“Do you love him?”

 

The question comes out of nowhere, and it hits her like a punch in the gut.

 

“What?” she asks in surprise, unable to keep the trembling in her body from reaching her voice. “Why would you-”

 

“Felicity.” Ray says her name calmly, evenly. He bridges the distance between them and grips her hands tightly in his. She watches him take a deep breath…and then he repeats the question. “Do you love him?”

 

Felicity opens her mouth to respond. She waits for her usual babble to come pouring out…but for the first time in a long time, she finds herself speechless.

 

And it’s all the answer that Ray needs.

 

“I thought as much,” he responds. He lets go of her hands and takes a step back. “Ever since last night. How you refused to kiss me when he was around. The way he reacted when the metahuman had you. When you talked to him on the highway after Roy left. I’ve seen the way he looks at you…and the way you look at him.

 

“Ray-”

“It’s okay,” Ray says calmly, and though the smile he gives her is sad, it’s also sincere. “I understand.”

 

Felicity shakes her head. She can tell that he means it, and she finds herself at a loss. She came here with every intention of breaking up with him, and now he’s breaking up with _her_? Felicity’s not entirely sure _how_ she expected him to react, but it certainly wasn’t like _this._ She doesn’t know how to respond.

 

“I meant what I said in the hospital,” Ray continues. “I shouldn’t have taken it back, but when you ran away after I said it, I panicked. I love you, Felicity. Capital L love you. But you don’t love me. At least, not the way you love him.”

 

“I’m sorry,” she says, tears rising in her eyes, and even though she means it the words feel useless and stupid. She gives him the only explanation she can: the truth.

 

“Last year, Oliver told me he couldn’t be with me and be the Arrow at the same time. He let me go, and I…I tried to do the same thing. But the Arrow’s gone now, and Oliver’s lost his sister, and I can’t….” She pauses, turning her eyes to the floor as her mind wanders to thoughts of Oliver: willing to whatever it takes to save his sister.

 

Willing to do the unthinkable.

 

Finally, she draws up her courage and looks back at Ray.

 

“I can’t let him go through this alone.”

 

* * *

 

She hugged Ray goodbye before hurrying home, refusing to let the rising tears fall in front of him. Only now, in the quiet and solitude of her own room, does she finally let them fall. She throws the last piece of clothing in her bag and zips it up.

 

This isn’t about her, or Ray Palmer, or her feelings for Oliver. This is about being there for Oliver when he needs every friend he has.

 

This is about saving Thea.

 

It’s about saving the man she loves.

 

She puts on a jacket, wiping furiously at her eyes as she throws the bag over her shoulder and heads out the door.

 

She _will_ go with him to Nanda Parbat. She _will_ do everything within her power to stop him from becoming the next Ra’s Al Ghul. If that means standing up to the Demon himself, she’ll do it. She’ll do anything; whatever it takes. Because she can’t lose Oliver.

 

She _won’t_.

 

Not without a fight.        

 

**_…the end…_ **


End file.
